Night Terrors
by Skittering-Roach
Summary: Back in those cold walls, the cold he knew so well as home. Inertia story The nightmare of a young clone.


Night Terrors

Disclaimer: I own nothing and profit nothing, the end.

Main Characters: Thad Thawne, Craydl...kinda...sorta...not really

Explanation: This is an excerpt from a role play I started with a friend. In the role play my character Thad Thawne (or Inertia for the few people that know him from the comic books) often has night-terrors and this is one of the less violent ones. It's not great but I was kinda happy with it none the less, and you don't have to know anything about the role play to understand it. You just have to know the character. Plus I really needed something to post, and this seemed to fit the bill. Criticism is highly appreciated. Just please be gentle, I know I'm no Stephen King and I have no Beta reader.

Rated: PG I guess. Nothing overly bad here. Maybe G.

Pairings: I laugh at your need for love! MAHAHahahah!!!

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Back in those cold walls, the cold he knew so well as home. The machines of the room buzzing, hollow and empty as he walked along the grated floor. The cold was smooth, familiar and safe, and as he ran a hand over the steel railing, a small content smile formed despite himself.

He was away from any one who would want to hurt him here. Just he and Craydl, his friend and caretaker. That was all he would ever really need.

The screens that lined the walls flickered blurry incomprehensible pictures, casting twisted shadow and blots of color on the wire lined walls and machines. But it was okay. For once, what was on the monitors didn't matter. There was no need to worry about them any more. He was home and safe. That was all that mattered now.

He felt so much smaller walking these halls again. As if a child once more. He waited to hear Craydl speak to him, as he always would when he came back home.

But there was nothing.

The further he went in to the familiar maze of wires and monitors the less at ease he became. Craydl always welcomed him, always chipper and reassuring.

Thad called out to him in the old tongue that he hadn't spoken in, for what felt like a life time now. A sequence of zeros and ones poured out in a voice that sounded as small as he felt.

His response was a low fizzling gurgle. It made him think of something dieing, and a shiver shot up his spine as the cold around him went from familiar to biting. Suddenly it was squeezing at his throat and clawing at his skin. He wanted to turn back and run. This place was no longer safe, but he couldn't get his legs to work right, and they kept him marching forward.

The buzzing got louder, the fizzling gurgle was given a sicking pop. No matter how much he fought his legs they would not comply. The wires along the walls were broken, and sparking. The twisted unfocused images in the screens took form between flashes, and he did not like what he saw underneath the fuzzing image. As he got closer to the center of the mess that was once Craydl the lights dangled broken from there place in the ceiling. The very walls were becoming twisted, broken and torn. Already rusting over in some places as if they had been like that for years now.

This was no longer safe. Why couldn't he leave? He was always suppose to be safe here. How had Craydl gotten like this?

He called out in ones and zeros again but it came out as mere bleat.

The heart of Craydl loomed like an open mouth ahead of him, metal hanging in the frame like jagged teeth. The room it's self was in complete tatters, only the one large monitor over head lite what had once been Thad's favorite room. All the machines that use to run throughout were silent, piled up in the center like so much trash now.

On top of the massive heap was a figure pulling the wires from one of the few smaller machines that still ran. The thing buzzed and cried miserably as the figure yanked at the guts of the tiny bot, oil running down the clawing hands. Finally the figure managed to yank the wires free with a slick snapping sound. It looked over it's work for a moment, turning the contraption over in its hand before finally letting the now quite bot drop and tumble down the pile with the rest.

Thad looked on at the figure and knew immediately who it was. It could simply be no one else.

It was the monster he was created to fight. The monster with his face.

The figure turned bright golden eyes to the boy. And Thad stood rooted, half of him shivering the other defiant.

The monitor flickered brightly, the image from earlier, and cast light over the monster. It did indeed have his face.

But it wasn't the monster from his childhood. This one was new. It had more then just his face.

It ran at him and he could not move. He felt a hot, slick hand wrap tightly around his neck. He expected the slam of wall, but it didn't come. Instead it just stood over him, holding him by the neck as he pawed at the oil stained hand. The monster was screaming at him in words he couldn't understand. He couldn't breath. Cold filled his lungs and the heat of the hand around his neck burned.

He tried again to call out to Craydl.

Finally his voice worked and it rung out loudly around him. The monster stopped it's yelling, looking almost hurt.

"Why can't you understand?"

Was that the monster speaking or Craydl?

The monster looked in raged again and squeezed tighter.

He yelped in pain and squeezed his eyes closed wishing this thing away.


End file.
